November 22, 2012

Estonian-Russian border agreement text can be compiled in December

Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet said on Wednesday while answering questions of MPs in the parliament that the next round of consultations on the Estonian-Russian border agreement issue will most likely take place on December 10, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

"While the first meeting was mainly a first time getting acquainted meeting between the people who hold these consultations, the December meeting will presumably look at the possible text too," said Paet.

Paet confirmed again that the consultations don’t cover the part in texts of border agreements that deal with where the border line runs and over which negotiations were held 11 years till 2005.

At the first round of talks at the Estonian-Russian foreign ministries consultations on October 31 in Moscow it was decided that a new preamble would be written for the agreements that suits both states.

Estonian and Russian foreign ministers signed the border agreement between Estonia and Russia in May 2005. The Riigikogu ratified the agreement that summer but added a preamble that Russia claimed enables to present territorial claims against Russia and thus it withdrew its signature from the border agreement. Estonia has repeatedly said that it doesn't have any territorial claims against Russia.